Section of Main Street in Taunton will soon close for repaving

Officials don't know exactly when the work will begin, but, contrary to a message flashing across an electronic sign all day Wednesday, it won't happen Friday night.

Charles Winokoor Taunton Gazette Staff Reporter @cwinokoor

TAUNTON — Even though the date was wrong, the flashing message on the electronic sign was not altogether incorrect.

Main Street, or at least a portion of it, will be closed to allow for street paving. But, contrary to the message displayed throughout Wednesday, the work won’t begin this Friday night.

“They’re not quite ready yet,” said Kevin Shea, executive director of Taunton’s Office of Economic and Community Development, referring to Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.

Shea said a nearly two-block stretch of Main Street from School Street to the far edge of the New York Lace building will be repaved before the end of May.

But he said before the work can commence, Columbia Gas has to finish replacing a natural gas main on adjacent Trescott Street.

Shea said his office didn’t find out about the change until Wednesday.

By that time, he said, LAL Construction of Fall River had already programmed the message into its sign, which spent the day flashing at hundreds of vehicles heading westward, into the heart of downtown.

LAL is the general contractor that installed new sidewalks throughout downtown as part of a grant-funded $2 million improvement project.

The repaving is part of the Downtown Sidewalks Improvement Project, Shea said.

Columbia Gas spokesman Donald DiNunno said the company initially planned to pressure-test, but not necessarily replace, a 720-foot length of pipe running beneath Trescott Street.

But he said the company decided it ultimately would be more efficient to replace the main, which provides service to 13 customers.

Shea said drivers and businesses should expect about four days of detours.

He said pavement milling, the process of removing the old surface, will likely be done in a single night.

But Shea said paving will probably take “a few days” during selected weekdays.

At least one downtown business owner was unhappy with the prospect of traffic being detoured away from his store while the street is being repaved.

“Cut my wrist right now. It’s not good, it’s not good,” said Mark McCauley, owner of St. Pierre Shoes at 77 Main St.

“They should do it Sunday, or at night all they want — but the day is not good,” he said.

Drivers have also had to contend with traffic detours on Broadway in recent weeks.

Antiquated sewer mains have been replaced with new pipes on Broadway, running from Fern to Purchase streets, according to Tony Abreau, assistant commissioner for the Department of Public Works.

Abreau said the work is the latest phase of a multi-million-dollar project spanning the past decade — as part of a consent order from state and federal environmental officials for the city to eliminate all combined sewer overflow into the Taunton River.

He said replacing the sewer main means that rainwater will no longer mix with sewage. He also said it will take pressure off of the city’s wastewater treatment plant to process and clean all of the water.

Abreau said new manholes designed to handle just sewerage — as opposed to a combination of rainwater and human waste — were installed, and that new catch basins are now in place.

The work on Broadway was completed by Wednesday, he added.

Abreau said homeowners in that area also benefited by having new lateral pipe connections installed to their houses.